The great letdown

O country of mine you do not exist
you’re just my deformed shadow
the enemy’s word that I believed

I used to think you were just very small
— that you couldn’t contain both
a North and a South
but now I know you don’t exist
and that anyway nobody needs you
you don’t hear anyone talking to their mother about you

This is satisfying
Because it proves that I invented a country
although it means I’m on the way to the nuthouse